Okay so I've had a game idea since i was 13 and I am now 16, when I came up with the game idea I did not pay much attention to it as I thought probably everyone thinks they have there own dream game idea until I told a couple trustworthy friends about it and they all said it was amazing as it would bring a whole new targeted amount of people (100s of millions) that would want to play the game, not just because of game play or anything like that but because of something else (and sorry I will not say what it is even though I have the idea copyrighted). Anyways, for the past 2 years I've been writing about my idea and I have about 25 pages of notes now. I've started thinking though for the past year that i obviously need an education before trying to get into a good game company, this is where I need help, where should I go? I'm going to be in Chicago downtown for sure and I've seen many places to go to but this one really stood out. This school was Flashpoint Academy, (the link to the site is here: http://flashpointacademy.com/ ) the problem is though that it is only a 2 year program which I'm not sure is a good thing as I hear lots of bad things about 2 year programs but this one looks different, with 40 hours or more of school a week and they teach you how to do an overview of everything and your second year you specialize in something a little bit. Plus, the thing I've heard stands out the most in an application is if you've made your own little games which shows you do know how to make games and if there's one thing I've heard that Flashpoint helps you the most in is making your own games which you can later on put in your own resume. Well that's it and by the way the company I'd like to go into after I get my education is Bioware so keep that in mind. Thanks to anyone that helps me.

Last edited by frenchie28 : 06-28-2010 at 05:00 AM.
Reason: Title change.

>I told a couple trustworthy friends about it and they all said it was amazing as it would bring a whole new targeted amount of people (100s of millions) that would want to play the game
Readhttp://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson31.htm

>the thing I've heard stands out the most in an application is if you've made your own little games which shows you do know how to make games
I thought you said you wanted to be a game designer? Not a game programmer?

__________________
Tom Sloper
Sloperama Productions
Making games fun and getting them done. www.sloperama.com

Are they experts in the field? How much experience do they have with business? If it is near 0, then take the feedback with a pinch of salt. I don't even think Farmville has hit those numbers.

The idea mechanic cannot be copyrighted, only patented. The material you create for the idea (back story, character names, game name, etc) can be copyrighted.

Are you trying to get into the games industry to develop this idea you have or not? What role are you aiming for?

When I said 100s of millions I meant possible people that could play the game and knowing that there is such a high amount of people that could want to play the game I think it is quite reasonable to think that if you made this into a good game you could already have a few million people play at the start which I know is quite a bit.

As for the copyright, I know that, and this copyright isn't honestly any good if some company tries using my idea but what the lawyer I contacted said was that at least some random person cannot go try selling a game with my idea.

As for my role in the game industry is to someday be the developer of this idea and communicates what the game consists of with the rest of the team. I'm not sure what that would be called as I looked it up and there are quite a few job names that have a job defenition close to what I just said.

And thanks tsloper, I've been reading those for a few days now and I'm learning a lot and also I looked up the schools page and found that there are lots of good schools to do gaming now I am just wondering what do you think would be better considering my situation:

I go to a normal campus school that doesn't need to have anything to do with games but take some nice core classes (like the ones recommended on Sloperama) and get some 3 year degree there that would have to do with buisness and project management, that sort of thing but at the same time do the online class for the Full Sail University and get a game design bachelors online which takes 3 years. Once done with those 2 I go take a class at the Full Sail University and get a one year Masters degree in Entertainement Buisness.

Second I could do the exact same thing exept get an online entertainment buisness bachelors instead of game design and then after for my last year instead of getting the entertainment buisness masters I could get a one year game design masters.

What do you recommend? And anyone else can give me there advice if they would like to. Thanks.

French, you wrote:
>what do you think would be better considering my situation:
>I go to a normal campus school that doesn't need to have anything to do with games but take some nice core classes (like the ones recommended on Sloperama) and get some 3 year degree there that would have to do with buisness and project management, that sort of thing but at the same time do the online class for the Full Sail University and get a game design bachelors online which takes 3 years. Once done with those 2 I go take a class at the Full Sail University and get a one year Masters degree in Entertainement Buisness.

Sure, if you want to do that, you should. The main reason for doing that is that you WANT TO.

>Second I could do the exact same thing exept get an online entertainment buisness bachelors instead of game design and then after for my last year instead of getting the entertainment buisness masters I could get a one year game design masters.

You could do that, too.

>What do you recommend?

The problem you're having is that this is the most important decision you've ever had to make in your life up until now. But guess what, everybody reaches this point at about this time in their lives. I recommend you consult your high school guidance counselor for more support in making your decision, make a decision grid in order to make the best decision FOR YOU, and follow your passions.

__________________
Tom Sloper
Sloperama Productions
Making games fun and getting them done. www.sloperama.com